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Israeli Forces Intensify Operations In Southern Gaza In Ongoing Conflict; Families Of Hostages Confront Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu In Emotional Meeting; Israeli Hostage Crisis Enters Two- Month Mark, Families Desperate For Information; Prime Minister Netanyahu Faces Criticism Over Handling Of Gaza Crisis. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 07, 2023 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We start this hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL with a touch of drama in Donald Trump's civil fraud trial today in New York. His expert witness going after a lawyer for the New York Attorney General telling him, quote, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, some fireworks here. Trump attending these proceedings today, so a lot of attention on these. He's expected to take the stand next week as the final defense witness. We have CNN's Kara Scannell live outside of the court. Tell us, Kara, who is the final expert witness for the defense? And why did he get so upset?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, Boris, Brianna, so this is an expert witness, the final expert witness that Trump's team has called in their defense. He's an accounting professor from New York University, Professor Eli Bartov. And he was asked questions, you know, he's been testifying all morning on this. And a lawyer for the Attorney General's office objected to one of these lines of questioning, saying that the accounting professor is not a banker, and so he's not qualified to answer questions about what a banker might be thinking when they received the financial statements at the heart of this case.

And that is when Bartov became upset, saying shame on yourself talking to me like that. You make up allegations. I'm here to tell the truth. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Now, Bartov had previously testified this morning that he found that there was no evidence of accounting fraud, and he said that the financial statements were not materially or any in a meaningful way misstated. So, the strongest evidence that Trump's side has put forward in the most kind of clear, common light. language to explain to the judge their position that these financial statements were not inflated.

Now, the judge has already found that the financial statements are fraudulent, saying that Trump and the other defendants did commit persistent and repeated fraud by inflating the value of their properties on these assets. Bartov is Trump's strongest defense against that. They're also playing not only for this judge, but also for an appeal in this case, which they have made clear they are laying the record throughout this trial to do just that. So Bartov will pick up testimony in just a few moments. He'll be back on the witness stand.

They are still on direct examination, meaning Trump's lawyers are the ones asking the questions. When that wraps, then there will be cross- examination by the attorney general's office. It's not clear how long they will do that today, but his testimony is certainly one of the stronger, clearest, most coherent pieces of evidence for Trump's side so far in their defense that there was no intent to defraud anybody. Bartov testifying that he did see that there were errors on these financial statements, but he said, he didn't believe that they were fraudulent. Brianna, Boris.

KEILAR: All right, Kara Scannell, live for us outside of the courthouse. Thank you. And let's now bring in CNN political director David Chalian, and we have CNN senior political analyst Gloria Borger as well. I know, you know, Trump wasn't at this debate last night. And then this morning, here he is, he's in court. And Gloria, I know that he uses these moments before the camera always to sort of make an appeal for some drama. But at the same time, how is this affecting how voters see him when he clearly has so much on his plate?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, he's declaring his innocence every single time, saying it's a witch hunt. And there is a substantial number of Republican voters who he's playing to who believe him. And I think, you know, he wasn't at the debate last night. And you can argue that he made the right political decision not to show up at these debates, as I would argue, because he was virtually unscathed, except for Chris Christie attacking him. The other candidates, more or less, a little bit Nikki Haley, seemed to be afraid to attack him.

So, what he's doing in the court, I mean, that's his campaign apparatus there. That's his equivalent of a rally, which is to proclaim his innocence, say he's a victim. And the more he can do that, I think they feel in the campaign, the better off he is.

SANCHEZ: Voters, David, obviously have not weighed in yet. We're fewer than six weeks away from Iowa, though. And it doesn't appear that Trump has lost anything by not going to these debates, at least in polling. Did anything that happened last night fundamentally change that dynamic?

[14:05:09]

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I don't think it changed the dynamic about Donald Trump's dominance in the race. As you note, I think not showing up to all four of these debates, not just last night's debate, has been a smart political decision for him. What did, I don't know if it changed, or what got clarified and I thought was clear on the stage last night, was the battle for the non-Trump candidate and watching these folks put their strategies forth in what their answers were, how they chose to attack, how they chose to parry. I thought it was pretty clear what each one of them was trying to do as they see their path forward to being the person standing at the end of the day against Donald Trump.

BORGER: And Nikki Haley in that was clearly the person that they were attacking the most, because she's got the most momentum. DeSantis even attacked her for getting fundraisers, which used to fund him and now fund her and, you know, gave her the opportunity to say you're just jealous, right? And, but, you know, that was clearly what was going on last night, except for Chris Christie, by the way, who defended her at one point against Ramaswamy. But Chris Christie had his message and he's been sticking to it throughout this entire campaign. And when given the opportunity, he did it again and he tried to get those other people on the record. And it was very difficult for him to get them to attack Trump. Even when they were asked about it.

KEILAR: Ramaswamy going after Nikki Haley, really going after the truth.

CHALIAN: Because it's a day that ends in Y.

KEILAR: Well, that's right. Going after the truth as well, because it's a day that ends in Y. I want to take a look at some of Vivek Ramaswamy's greatest hits, what Chris Christie might consider his most obnoxious hits. If you were to pull a quote from him last night, here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIVEK RAMASWAMY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (R): Why am I the only person on the stage, at least, who can say that January 6th now does look like it was an inside job, that the government lied to us for 20 years, about Saudi Arabia's involvement in 9-11, that the great replacement theory is not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory, but a basic statement of the Democratic Party's platform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right, so all conspiracy theories, just to be very clear about this. No, he's not the leading alternative candidate. But what does this say, as he's saying this, David, about where a significant part of the party is? Because he's getting a lot of cheers for what once would have been completely invalidating.

CHALIAN: Yeah, I mean, there is a swath of the far right, of sort of the fringe right, that buys into these conspiracy theories. He sees that, let's call it the Alex Jones crowd or what have you, as a potential pocket of voters and support inside a Republican primary. And so, he, I mean, he knows exactly what he's doing. I mean, he is, he's playing directly to that to try and amp up their support for him in this race. He doesn't have a ton of places to go. As you noted, he's pretty far back in the standing in this race. So, he's trying to juice the one segment of the Republican electorate that he thinks he has some sway with.

BORGER: What was notable was he wasn't challenged on any of this, either by the moderators or by the other people on stage with him, which was ridiculous. I mean, he was wading into Alex Jones' territory, saying that, you know, January 6th was an inside job. I mean, it should be disqualifying, but it isn't in this Republican party right now.

SANCHEZ: Well, he certainly hasn't made a lot of friends on that stage, as you noted, with Chris Christie calling him out. Chris Christie also pointed to these candidates saying that they're refusing to call out Donald Trump, in part because they have their own political futures in mind, whether in 2028 or even as potentially Donald Trump's running mate. And I'm wondering, David, Vivek Ramaswamy appears to be auditioning for that role, doesn't he?

CHALIAN: He certainly seems very much like he is positioning himself that should Donald Trump be the nominee, should Donald Trump be the next president. That he wants a seat at that table. I mean, he's done absolutely nothing to separate himself from Trump in any way, despite the fact he's actually running against him for the nomination, if you are to believe what he's doing here. But he's clearly positioning himself to at least be at the table.

KEILAR: What do you think?

BORGER: Oh, you know--

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Running mate or press secretary? I don't know.

BORGER: But it makes you wonder why he's running at all. I mean, the only difference he can say is it's generational, that he's younger than Donald Trump, but he pays fealty Donald Trump and the election theory at every chance. And all he, you know, he's gotten on stage and he's alienated people, which is showing up in the polls. His unfavorable ratings have gone up, as Chris Christie noted that he is obnoxious. And I think that, you know, but he's playing in many ways to that audience of one, Donald Trump, who likes him and who's always complimented him.

[14:10:29]

CHALIAN: And I would just note, there's an upcoming filing deadline for a Senate seat from Ohio running against Sherrod Brown. There's a competitive Republican primary. I wonder if Mr. Ramaswamy is also taking a look at other options just in case. We'll see.

KEILAR: What's he running for? The fact that we say his name and know it, right? And maybe in the context of something as high profile as a Senate race. And that's what he's achieved out of all of this. David and Gloria, great to have you for this discussion. Thank you.

Israeli airstrikes continuing to target Khan Younis in southern Gaza as the World Food Program warns of alarming levels of hunger and food insecurity. We have more on that just ahead. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is confronted by the families of hostages who are angry with the Israeli government. They are furious. We're going to speak to a loved one of a hostage who was in that room for that meeting.And then later, after the deadly crash off the coast of Japan, the U.S. military now grounding the Osprey fleet. You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll have more on that when we're back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:39]

SANCHEZ: President Biden just spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war as it reaches the two- month mark today. Israeli defense forces released this image of five senior Hamas members they say have been, quote, eliminated in the military campaign in Gaza. They also announced that Israeli operations have killed two other senior officers of the terror group. The IDF says it's seen some success in removing senior operatives to the point one official said it's made it harder for Hamas to launch counterattacks because there's no leadership in certain battalions. Let's take you now to the region with CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who's live for us in Sderot. So, Jeremy, the IDF has intensified its operations in southern Gaza. Bring us up to speed with the latest.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's exactly right. Israeli troops pushing deeper into southern Gaza, now in the second largest city in the Gaza Strip of Khan Younis. We have seen images of Israeli troops moving through buildings that we've geolocated to parts of northern Khan Younis. And we also know that the Israeli military has said that they have encircled that city. Tanks, armored personnel carriers, all moving in the direction of that key city in southern Gaza, where Israeli officials believe that Yahya Sinwar, the group's leader in Gaza, may potentially be hiding. Yesterday, the Israeli prime minister said that Israeli forces had surrounded his home, although there's no indication that he is actually there.

Instead, he is believed to be underground. But the Israeli military is targeting key Hamas commanders. They announced just today that two senior Hamas members were killed in a strike on an intelligence facility, as well as five out of 11 members of Hamas's northern brigade, who were seen in a picture in an underground tunnel, that they were killed in a strike on that underground infrastructure by Hamas. And even as the Israeli military is pushing deeper into southern Gaza, not only with troops on the ground, but also with airstrikes on several key cities. There are also still battles raging behind me right now in Northern Gaza. We have heard all evening the sounds of outgoing artillery fire, machine gun fire as well. And we have seen accounts both from the Israeli military, as well as from people on the ground of heavy gunfire in areas like Jabalia, as well as neighborhoods in Gaza City as well. So, this fighting is certainly raging on all parts of the Gaza Strip at this moment.

SANCHEZ: And Jeremy, on that fighting in northern Gaza, we learned that the son of an Israeli, a wartime cabinet member, was killed during an operation. What's the latest on that?

DIAMOND: Yeah, that's right. Gadi Eisenkot is a member of the Israeli war cabinet. And today, the Israeli military announcing that he was one of two soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip. His name is Master Sergeant Gal Meir Eisenkot, and he is now among the 88 Israeli soldiers who have been killed in this military offensive. It is also notable that he was killed not in southern Gaza, where, again, that is the thrust of the Israeli military operations at the moment, but instead in northern Gaza, indicating that even as Israeli officials have said that they are in control of northern Gaza for weeks now, battles are still very much raging, and Hamas still presents very much of a threat to Israeli forces operating in the northern part of the Strip.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond, live from Sderot, Israel. Thank you so much. Brianna.

KEILAR: A short time ago, relatives of the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7th, they lit what has been called the hostages Hanukkah Menorah. Organizers say 138 branches, each with a candle, representing the 138 who are still in captivity. Our next guest was in the room when Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced what was really furious families of freed hostages and those who are still remaining in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu had this meeting on Tuesday, and here is what he heard from one former hostage liberated with, her children, but not her husband, still in Gaza.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNKNOWN, VOICE OF FREED HOSTAGE: You will return them all. They will not wait 50 days. They will not wait another year, because you claim that they are strong enough. You have no information. You have no information. The fact that we were shelled, the fact that no one knew anything about where we were.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: Jennifer Mester saw the outrage firsthand. She was there at the meeting. She's with us now. Her boyfriend, Andrei Koslov (ph), was taken by Hamas at that outdoor music festival two months ago. Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us. You've been through so much. You were in this meeting. Did you feel that the Prime Minister heard what you and other family members were there to communicate?

JENNIFER MESTER, BOYFRIEND TAKEN HOSTAGE: Hello, yes. I feel that they heard it, but nothing really changed. The fighting is, you know, we continue to fight in Gaza. And the results are bad. They're bad.

[14:19:59]

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: When you say the results are bad, tell us what you mean.

MESTER: Even today, the son of Eisenkot, who is, he was a soldier, he was fighting in Gaza, died. I believe that we all suffer from the fighting. I know that my country is trying to protect and to avoid in the future another attack. So, yes, we need to destroy Hamas. But we truly believe that there will always be new terror, new terrorists. I live here since I was five years old, and this is what I remember since I was a little child. There are always terrorists in Israel.

It's not a safe country to live in it. So, we thought that there might be other options that we didn't test yet to, first of all, receive our beloved people, our hostages, abductees that are in Gaza. And every minute they are there, risk them, and the option that they will come back alive. And we feel that our government knows to do one thing that is to bomb Gaza. What about other options? Maybe there are other options that we need to test, that we need to think about.

It was a very hard meeting for all of us. I think because the meeting started with the testimony of the abductees that were free. And it was horrible to hear. It was horrible.

KEILARL And so when you hear that, in particular, we heard from one abductee who has a husband who's still there. And, you know, one of the responses that Netanyahu said, you know, as families were making this case for hostages to be released, he said that Hamas wants not prisoners. He said, quote, the price they want is not only the prisoners. Do you understand what he means?

(CROSSTALK)

MESTER: He didn't say the other thing. Yeah, he didn't say the other thing. I truly believe that our government is doing everything that they can. I do believe it. I won't say things against my government as Israeli. But I'm not sure that Netanyahu is completely honest with us, with the families and the people. He said one reason. One thing. But he didn't say the other. Hamas doesn't want their prisoners back. And another thing that he didn't say.

I know from what I read that Hamas wants his prisoners back. And he wants the fighting to stop. This is what I know. This is what I read on the newspaper or what I, -- the sources that I got. But Netanyahu doesn't. He won't allow it to happen. And I think it's a problem right now. It's a problem.

KEILAR: So that's interesting because you're saying that he didn't say that Hamas doesn't, wants not the prisoners, but that they want something more. You're saying he didn't say that?

MESTER: Yes, he didn't. He didn't say what is the other thing that Hamas wants. That's what I meant.

KEILAR: Jennifer, can you tell us, and you've been through so much. You know, we can see, we can see it as we talk to you, just how difficult this time is. We hear it in the voices. I think even people who don't speak Hebrew, they can feel it in the tone of voice as they listen to this audio. Tell us how you're doing. Tell us what your concerns for Andrei are right now. And also, you know, as we've heard from some of the -- those who are held captive, they were able to hear some of the news, even about some of their families. So, if there's anything that you would like to say, you can go ahead and say that as well to Andre.

MESTER: Yeah, thanks. I'm disappointed not only because of the Israeli government, I'm disappointed because the rest of the world, I see all this huge support in Palestine right now. And I don't know, in a way, I admire it.

[14:25:19] I know the other people, the Palestinian people suffer, and I won't lie about it. I know that we both suffer. But it's been two months that we Israeli people don't know. Today, it's two months. We don't know what's going on with our beloved people. We don't know if they're alive, if they're harmed, if they're injured, if they're sick. We don't know anything. We don't know who is keeping them, the Hamas, the Jihad, what kind of terrorist keeping my Andrei. I don't know anything about Andrei.

I even don't know if right now he's alive. The Red Cross didn't visit them. Even though USA was involved in this latest agreement, the Red Cross didn't visit them because they can't visit the abductees. Hamas don't let it. And we all shut our silence about it. Like it's legit. It's not legit. We suffer. We are ill in the inside of us. We are so ill. I can't take this anymore. Seriously, we all, I'm just a girlfriend, but there are people that are parents, sisters, brothers. You know, people tell me, you can find another boyfriend. Find another boyfriend. It shouldn't be like that. It shouldn't be like that. I'm asking from all the world to help us, to see our suffering.

We are, we so -- I don't even have words. I'm losing my words when I talk about it, but I can't express to you how much I'm suffering right now. And I don't know when it's going to be over. And how it will be over. Will I have to bury Andre? Maybe I won't have a body. I don't know. I just want to see him alive. I want all our hostages to come back home. Please help us.

KEILAR: Jennifer, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. And I know you say you don't have the words, but we hear it loud and clear as you are telling us how you are feeling and what you're going through. And we are thinking of you. We're thinking of Andrei. We're thinking of all the families. Jennifer Mester, thank you so much for being with us.

MESTER: Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.

KEILAR: We'll be right back.

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